http://www.fourfourtwo.com/features/joaquin-ardaiz-liverpool-bashing-hotshot-wanted-well-everyone
Europe's biggest clubs are competing for a young striker schooled in the same environment as Edinson Cavani, explains
Marcus Haydon...
by
Marcus Haydon
Published
24 February 2016
The 60-second story
FACT FILE
- Date of birth: January 11, 1999
- Place of birth: Salto, Uruguay
- Height: 6ft
- Position: Striker
- Club: Danubio (2 apps, 1 goals)
The Jose Nasazzi Stadium in Montevideo is a fairly typical Uruguayan stadium. Its crumbling terraces are separated from the pitch by high fences topped with barbed wire. Commentators lean out of the windows of the small building at the back of the main stand, dangling their microphones from the window ledge to record the crowd noise as part of their coverage. In the club house you can buy a cup of warm Coke and
torta frita for sustenance.
As modest a venue as it may seem, it's one that will have been on the radar of some of Europe’s biggest clubs recently. Why? It’s where the highly rated Uruguayan striker Joaquin Ardaiz made his much-anticipated first-team debut a couple of weeks ago, appearing as a second-half substitute against Cerro.
Ardaiz may be only 17, but the dazzling list of clubs reported to be interested in recruiting him already includes
Barcelona,
Real Madrid,
Manchester City,
Liverpool and
Porto.